Vengeance Is Sweet
by criminalxxxmindsxxxfreak
Summary: When Reid and Morgan are kidnapped by an angry UnSub who demands that the team choose one of them to die, the team scrambles to find them before it's too late. Rate T for graphic violence and some language.
1. Preparations

**A/N: Okay, so this story was kind of written quickly so forgive any mistakes or stupidity that you spot and let me know if you spot it...**

**WARNING: violence. a lot of it in later chapters.**

**please review :)**

_"Before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves." - Confucius_

Ch. 1: Preparations

Supervisory Special Agent Derek Morgan walked to his car after a long day at work. He was walking with the younger, more childlike Dr. Spencer Reid. He watched as the two of them parted ways, waving goodbye to each other with smiles on their faces. He impatiently clenched and unclenched his hands, waiting for the moment when he could wipe the smiles right of their faces. Maybe tonight…

No. Not tonight. There was still so much to prepare. He turned the key in the ignition and drove away, thoughts of revenge consuming his mind. Angry, bitter tears began to leak from his eyes. What they had done… he could barely bring himself to think about it and whenever he did, he was filled with immeasurable rage.

Soon, he thought. His revenge would be soon. The BAU would pay for what they'd done to him. Especially agents Morgan and Reid.

He drove by the grave once again, unable to stop himself. He didn't get out of the car, though. He had more work to do, things to prepare. But she would be avenged, he promised her that much. He wouldn't rest until she was avenged.

* * *

Morgan pushed open the door to his apartment and sighed. It was good to be home. Especially after being gone for an entire week and feeling drained. Sleeping in hotel rooms and on the jet got old after a while.

He yawned and flopped down on the couch with a beer in hand. He turned the TV on to some mindless show and closed his eyes, determined to forget about the brutal week he'd had and the one before…

Between the two cases, he wasn't sure which was worse: a man who was kidnapping, raping and killing thirteen year old girls or a woman with a serious personality disorder, who kidnapped people, locked them in her basement for a week, tortured them and then dismembered them. Of all the female serial killers he'd come up against, he felt it was fair to say that Dana Shepherd was the worst.

Taking a long drink of his beer, Morgan flipped the channel on the TV again and sighed. He was glad to be home.

* * *

Reid dropped his keys on the kitchen counter and yawned, glad to be back in his own house. He'd seen some brutal things in the past, but these last two cases had been horrifying by even those standards.

He always hated working cases where children were the victims. They were so young. So innocent. Fritz Unger had ripped the life away from six teenage girls and hadn't felt even one ounce of remorse for any of it.

Blinking to get the image of their empty eyes out of his head, Reid poured a glass of water and put his bag down on the floor. At least he was home now.

Tired, he yawned again and got dressed for bed.

* * *

He was almost done. He finished tightening the bolt in the last leg of the second chair to hold it to the floor. The single light in the ceiling swung gently as he put the screw driver back into the tool box at his side.

Straightening, he looked at the single photograph on the concrete walls. She was smiling in it, just like she always had been. He scowled, thinking back again to what the BAU had done…

His fist tightened involuntarily. He would make them pay. All of them. They would all suffer for their injustice. He would make sure of it.

Sitting the tool box back on the shelf, he tested the bolts holding the chairs to make sure that they were tightly attached. Satisfied, he flipped off the light and locked the door behind him.


	2. Let The Games Begin

**A/N: Only two reviews so far, but thanks to both of you :) and to everyone who added this to their favorites... :)**

**please review! :) ...please...?**

**WARNING: again, violence. not too much right now, but trust me, it's coming...**

Ch. 2: Let the Games Begin

The following night the team left work earlier than usual, thankful for the absence of a case and tired of doing paper work.

He watched as they each got into their separate vehicles and drove away to their separate lives. He smiled an evil, twisted smile, knowing that tomorrow would be far from normal for them. Tomorrow the game would begin.

Agent Morgan's home was closest. He backed out of the parking space and headed in that direction, anticipation setting his nerves on edge. He could almost feel their despair, their anguish. He longed to see the rest of their faces when they realized what he had done. But knowing that he had destroyed them was enough. That knowledge put his mind at ease. Soon, they would pay for what they had done.

* * *

Morgan unlocked the door to his apartment in slightly better spirits than he'd been in the night before. The day hadn't been so bad. Just boring. And long.

He turned the TV on and flipped the volume on high to drive the thoughts out of his mind. He never heard his door creek open slowly. Didn't have time to reach for his gun or react in any way as the assailant came up behind him and hit him in the head with a crowbar.

* * *

Reid sat down on his couch and pulled his knees up, holding a thick book in his hands. He began to flip the pages rapidly, appearing to be uninterested. Only someone who knew him would know that he was actually reading every word on the pages.

A floor board creaked behind him. He turned his head but saw nothing. A few moments later there was another creek. This time, when he turned he was greeted by the angry blow of a crowbar before his world went black.

* * *

Prentiss frowned and glanced at her watch again. It was after ten o'clock and still no sign of Morgan or Reid. Where were they? It wasn't like either of them to be late and for both of them to be late on the same day was making her worried.

"Still no Morgan or Reid?" JJ asked as she walked by, holding several folders in her arms

"No." Prentiss answered. "And I'm starting to get worried. I've called them both twice and got no answer."

"Where's Morgan and Reid?" Rossi asked, walking over to the two women.

"We don't know," JJ answered. "They haven't shown up yet."

Rossi frowned and pulled out his cell phone, dialing Morgan. When he got no answer there, he tried Reid. Still no answer. "That's strange," he said, looking up from the phone.

"You don't think something happened to them do you?" Prentiss asked.

Before he answered, Hotch walked over, wondering what was going on. "What, no Reid or Morgan?" he asked, looking around the group.

"Apparently not." Rossi answered. "They aren't answering their cell phones either."

They all looked around at each other, worried. They'd just handled two bad cases; maybe they'd just decided to take a little time off. But that didn't explain why they weren't answering their phones.

Garcia suddenly came running out of her office, her face ashen. "What's wrong?" Prentiss asked.

"It's… I… Oh, my God." she gasped, looking from face to face. "You have to see this." she said finally.

* * *

They followed her to her office while she babbled away. "I just… got this e-mail. I can't track the bastard, though. I already tried. And I…" she paused, not quite sure what to say.

The rest of the team walked into her office and gasped. Displayed on the main screen was a photo of Morgan and Reid, unconscious. They were tied to two chairs in a dark room. The message underneath read:

"BAU,

I'm going to give you a chance to save one of them, but only one of them.

At eleven o'clock I will call you; have your decision by then. Who lives, who dies? If you don't have a decision, I will have to punish them both, severely. And we'll do this all over again in another hour. Eleven o'clock. Be ready.

Let the games begin."


	3. Choice

**A/N: Thanks soooo much to everyone who reviewed! :) Please continue to do so!**

**WARNING: violence. not really in this chapter... but again, i'm just being precautionary**

***also, for anyone who read my story "The Eyes of a Monster" thanks so much for the reviews and yes, to those of you who are wondering, I am planning a sequel that I'll start posting in a little while (maybe after I finish this story, maybe before... who knows?) anyway, thanks again :)**

Ch. 3: Choice

"What are we gonna do?" JJ asked, looking at Hotch with absolute terror in her eyes.

"We can't choose one of them to die." Hotch answered, not taking his eyes off the screen. "We have to find them."

"How?" Prentiss asked. "It's already 10:37." she said. "We've got 23 minutes until he calls. We don't have that kind of time."

"So we won't choose," Hotch answered. "We'll try to stall him, get him talking. We need to figure out who this guy is. To do that, we've got to profile him with what we've got. Start looking into old cases, Garcia. Bring us anything where someone might hold a grudge against Morgan and Reid. Maybe this is some act of revenge."

"Yes, sir." Garcia said, sitting down and hitting keys rapidly.

"JJ, you stay and help her find possible cases. Dave, you and Prentiss come with me. We've got to go to their houses, see how he got them. Morgan's is closest; Prentiss and I will go there. Rossi, you go to Reid's. Don't stay long; we've go less than half an hour before he calls."

* * *

Morgan's door was unlocked and partially open when Hotch and Prentiss arrived. Walking into the living room, Prentiss frowned. "It doesn't look like there was a struggle." she said. "If he were conscious, Morgan would've put up a fight."

"So he wasn't conscious." Hotch said.

"You think he was drugged?" Prentiss asked, looking at Hotch worriedly.

"Or hit over the head," Hotch said, pointing to a small patch of blood on the floor near the couch.

"So the unsub came up behind him, hit him over the head and dragged him out to his car?" she asked.

Hotch nodded, his lips a thin angry line on his face. He did not like the idea of someone hurting not one but two of his agents. Men who were like family to him.

* * *

Rossi looked around Reid's home, frowning. There was nothing out of place. Nothing except a large book in the floor near the couch and a glass of water that sat on the table.

Reid must've been reading when the unsub attacked him. Shaking his head, Rossi took another look around the house before leaving, disappointed. He'd half hoped that this would be some sick nightmare and he'd find Reid at home. Maybe sleeping.

Seeing his home empty made everything seem even more real to Rossi. Glancing at his watch, he cranked the key in the car and drove off.

* * *

They all gathered in the round table room, faces grim and angry.

"It looks like they were both taken sometime last night." Hotch said. "And as far as we can tell, the unsub was careful. He left almost no physical evidence at the scene."

"Did you and JJ find anything in the case files?" Rossi asked.

"Uh, yeah." Garcia said slowly. "We found about thirty seven possible cases, and there are most certainly more, but we haven't had time to go through them all yet."

Prentiss sighed, "That many," she shook her head. "How are we going to narrow that down in time?"

Hotch glanced at his watch. "It's 10:58." he announced. "Garcia, are you ready?"

Looking up from her laptop, she nodded. "Yes, sir." she said, a look of determination in her eyes.

"Alright then. Everyone quiet. When this guy calls we've got to keep him talking. Try to figure out what this is all about." Hotch ordered.

Just as the words left his mouth, the phone rang. The sound seemed to be a deadly omen to the agents in the room. Hotch held up a hand to silence them, though it was unnecessary. He pressed the speaker button on the phone and answered. "Agent Hotchner." he said slowly.

"Who's it going to be, Agent Hotchner? Do I kill Agent Morgan or Agent Reid?" the voice on the other end of the line wasn't familiar to any of them.

"Can I ask you something first?" Hotch asked. "Why are you doing this?"

There was a short pause on the other end of the line. "You'll find out soon enough," he finally answered. "Now stop trying to stall me, Agent Hotchner. Who do you want to die?"

Hotch's mouth tightened even more than normal. "Do you really expect me to choose one of my agents to die?" Hotch asked coldly, unable to hide his contempt for the man who had kidnapped his men.

"Are you saying you won't choose?" the man asked.

Biting his lip, Hotch scowled, not really sure what to say. He wanted to keep this man on the phone, but he didn't want him angry. "That's exactly what I'm saying." he answered.

He could almost hear the smile in the other man's voice. "I thought you would say that." he said. "You don't want to feel responsible for the death of a friend. But consider this, Agent Hotchner, now you're responsible for the torture of _two _friends. How does that feel? I'll call back in an hour. Maybe you'll change your mind then."

There was a click and the line went dead. Hotch looked to Garcia with a small ounce of hope in his eyes. She looked up from her computer sadly and shook her head. "Sorry. I couldn't track him." she said, looking angry and disappointed.

The team looked around at each other with worry and fear on their faces. What was happening to their friends? Why was it happening? And more importantly, who was doing this to them?


	4. In A Dark Room With A Psycho

**A/N: Thanks sooo much for all the reviews! :) I love hearing from peoples! Okay, so, we haven't really heard much from Morgan and Reid yet... well, TA DA! Here they are... not sure if that's a good thing or not... let me know! :)**

**Again, a warning for violence, even though I'm pretty sure there isn't much in this chapter... I'm just (as already stated) being precautionary... **

Ch. 4: In a Dark Room With a Psycho

Morgan opened his eyes slowly, his head pounding. Blinking, he looked around the room, wondering where he was and how he had gotten there. He remembered, slowly, what had happened and felt his heart skip a beat when he finally lifted his head up. Tied to a chair only about five feet in front of him was Reid.

Panic didn't really set in until he tried to move and discovered that he too was bound tightly. What the hell was going on?

"Reid," he hissed, glancing around the room cautiously. "Reid! C'mon, man, wake up! Reid!"

Reid stirred slowly, wincing as he opened his eyes. All he remembered from the night before was reading… then there was a creek on the floor board behind him and… then nothing. He wasn't sure what had happened. He only knew that wherever he was, it was dark.

He heard his name again and remembered what had pulled him back to consciousness. Looking up, he blinked again to clear the blurriness from his eyes and frowned. Sitting across from him, tied to a chair, was Morgan. _What the hell? _"Morgan?" he asked, his voice raspy, "What's going on?"

"I don't know, kid. I was hoping you might have some idea in that big brain of yours." Morgan answered.

He tried to hide the fear in his voice, but Reid could still hear it. He had been a profiler and known Morgan far too long to be fooled. Knowing Morgan was scared made Reid feel better about his own fear, but at the same time, made him even more scared than he had been before. If Morgan was scared, things were really bad.

* * *

"But consider this, Agent Hotchner." he said grimly, carefully calculating his words. He wanted to make sure that this was as painful for the rest of the BAU as it was about to become for SSAs Morgan and Reid. "Now you're responsible for the torture of _two _friends. How does that feel? I'll call back in an hour. Maybe you'll change your mind then."

He hung up the phone with a smile on his face. Agent Hotchner had answered expectedly. He was certain that Agents Morgan and Reid had several painful hours ahead of them before Agent Hotchner couldn't stand it anymore. He would choose one of them to die to end their suffering. He was sure of it.

* * *

The darkness was starting to get to Morgan. He couldn't stop himself from looking nervously around the room every few minutes, hoping to catch a glimpse of light. Something more than the dim glow of the bare bulb hanging above his and Reid's heads.

Reid wasn't any more calm than Morgan was, but he had decided against moving any more than necessary when he had first lifted his head and felt the angry pounding forcing him to squint his eyes at even the dim light in the room. He was certain that he had a concussion.

"What are we doing here?" Morgan asked, more to hear something other than the deafening silence than for an actual answer. He knew Reid didn't have any more idea what was going on than he did.

Still, Reid answered, for much the same reason that Morgan had asked. Conversation was all they had to keep them from losing their hold on reality at the moment. "I don't know." he said. "I don't even really remember last night." There was an edge of near panic in his voice. His memory had never failed him before, and though he knew it was pretty much impossible to remember something that he had been unconscious for, it still scared him that he couldn't. He wasn't really used to that feeling.

"Neither do I, kid." Morgan said, hearing the fear in Reid's voice increase. "Whoever brought us here, knocked us out before he did it."

Reid started to nod in agreement, but stopped and grimaced as a splitting pain shot through his head. He had nearly forgotten about his concussion.

"You okay?" Morgan asked, looking at him worriedly.

"No better than you are," Reid answered.

They heard something scraping against the floor and the door behind Morgan began to open slowly. Both agents tensed, visibly nervous about being face to face with their attacker.

The man wasn't very tall, but he was muscled and thick boned. His dark hair was trimmed short and his eyes… Reid didn't like the look in the man's eyes at all. They were angry and full of hate.

"I see you two are finally awake," he said, his voice somehow containing even more hatred than his eyes. "It's about time. I'd worried that I might've cracked your skull, Dr. Reid. I didn't think about the fact that your head is probably more fragile than Agent Morgan's here."

Reid shot his eyes nervously to Morgan as the man walked around his chair and stood in front of the shelf between the two of them. "I just talked to your boss. Agent Hotchner," the man continued. "He didn't seem too thrilled to speak with me. I guess I can't really blame him."

"What do you want, you son of -" Morgan's angry words were cut off when the man slammed a hand into the side of his already aching head. Reid felt his jaw tighten convulsively at the sight of his friend's pain.

"Shut up!" the man almost screamed. "I'm not here to listen to you whine." He took a deep breath to calm himself down. "I'm here to listen to you scream."

Still confused, and growing increasingly more worried, Morgan and Reid watched as their captor turned his back to the two of them and took a small metal tool box down from the shelf. He began rummaging through it and they felt their blood freeze. What was he looking for?


	5. Hate Filled Eyes

**A/N: And another amazingly ginormous thank-you to everyone who reviewed! :) I was worried I wouldn't get to post this today what with the ACT and being soooo tired cuz I was an idiot and stayed up watching TV (Criminal Minds... so see, it's not a bad thing, really...) until 2 a.m. Thank God for DVDs :) Anyway, I'm totally ramling now... must be hyper... Soooo, thanks sooo much for reviewing! :) Please continue to do so.**

**WARNING: there is definately violence in this chapter... and it's pretty graphic. not too bad, I promise, but still, just be prepared for blood.**

Ch. 5: Hate Filled Eyes

"So what do we have so far?" Rossi asked, looking up from the file in his hands.

Hotch glanced up and shook his head, "Not much. We handle a lot of cases and Morgan and Reid have been prominent in a lot of them. I hate to say it, but there are a lot of people in these files who have the motive and means to do this to them."

"Well, I've got two more possibles," Prentiss said, sitting the files down in front her and sighing. "Four months ago Reid and Morgan were on scene when Beverly Davis' body was found. Husband was hysterical. They'd interviewed him the day before and he blamed them for his wife's death."

"Four months is a short time period though," Hotch said skeptically. "I think this unsub has been planning this for a long time. Put in with the others, just in case. What was the other…?"

"Uh, two years ago a thirteen year old girl was killed in the crossfire when her father tried to shoot his way out of bank he'd just robbed… father was released on a technicality two months later." Prentiss said, reading through the file. "Morgan and Reid were the only agents there. But it looks like the girl was shot by a local officer."

"Put it in the pile," Hotch said. "The father could've seen them as responsible because they were the FBI."

"That's forty-six cases, Hotch." Rossi said, looking at the growing pile. "And we've still got forty-three more to go through before he calls again. We don't really have that kind of time."

"You're right. Garcia, why don't you take these names and do background checks on all of them. See if anyone made any suspicious purchases recently, moved nearer to the city or dropped off the grid suddenly."

"I'll tell you what color their underwear are if you want me to," Garcia said, a gleam of determination in her eyes. She wasn't about to let some sick psycho hurt her sweet Dr. Reid or her handsome Morgan.

"The rest of us need to keep sifting through these files. We've got less than an hour before he calls back. I'd like to have something solid before then." Hotch ordered, the stress in his voice clear to everyone in the room.

* * *

Morgan and Reid watched as he turned around to face them again, holding two things in his hands. A hammer and a knife. They weren't sure which scared them more. "You probably want to know what's going on, don't you?" the man asked, eyeing the two of them with a look of twisted anticipation.

"You see, a few years ago, you and your _team_," the word was spat with hate, "Took something from me. Something very important. And now, you've got to pay for what you did. All of you. So, I've decided that since you took something from me, I'm going to take something from your team. One of you. And they get to decide which one."

Morgan and Reid glanced at each other nervously. They knew that the team would never chose one of them to die. So what was he planning on doing with them? He smiled an evil sort of smile. "And since Agent Hotchner seems so reluctant to make that decision, I'm going to have to punish you both until he does."

He tested the weight of the hammer in his hand and looked back and forth between the two of them. Then, without warning, he lifted the hammer in the air and brought it down on Morgan's knee with crushing force.

Unprepared, Morgan couldn't stop himself from screaming as he felt something in his leg snap under the blow.

"Morgan!" Reid yelled, worry and fear crowding his wide eyes. He could still hear the echo of Morgan's scream as the hammer was lifted back into the air.

Gritting his teeth, Morgan was determined not to scream again as the hammer was slammed into his knee two more times. Blood began to seep through his pant leg by the time the man lay the hammer aside and turned his attention to Reid.

He held the knife in his hands now. Reid eyed it warily, knowing that what was about to come was going to far more than unpleasant.

The man smiled with a strange light of glee in his face. He had been waiting for this a long, long time. He turned the knife over in his hands, contemplating Reid for a brief moment. Reid realized, that angry as he was at them, for whatever reason, this man was also extremely controlled. He was going to make this painful and slow.

He stabbed the knife into Reid's abdomen and felt a sick rush of pleasure at his gasp of pain. Reid didn't even have to energy to scream as the knife was slowly dragged across his stomach. The knife had went a little less than two inches in, not quite all the way through the muscle. He pulled the knife away and then turned it over in his hand a few times before repeating the action, slightly further up Reid's abdomen, almost directly under his ribcage.

Reid's breathing was labored and harsh. He could feel the blood seeping through his shirt, but he tried not to think about that. He was more concerned about Morgan than he was himself. Blinking, he looked up at his friend and saw the blood that was beginning to drip onto the floor from his pant leg.

"Morgan?" he asked. "Are you alright?" His voice was weaker than he'd expected.

Morgan watched as the man glanced back at the two of them with a smile on his face and left before he answered. "I'm fine, kid. Are you?" he looked at Reid worriedly, not liking all the blood that was already forming a pool on the floor at his feet.

"I've been better," Reid said slowly, trying to focus on something other than the sharp pain in his stomach.

Morgan shook his head. "Reid did he look familiar to you?"

Reid shook his head slowly, the pain of the concussion the least of his worries at the moment. "No. What do you think he meant when he said we took something from him?"

"A dead family member maybe…?" Morgan suggested. "I don't know. But I don't remember ever seeing that guy before. This doesn't make any sense."

"I don't think it's supposed to." Reid said. "He probably wants us to figure out why he's doing this. Probably expects us to."

"And us not knowing is only going to make him angrier." Morgan sighed, the throbbing pain in his knee making it hard for him to focus.

"I'm not sure he can get angrier than he already is." Reid said, remembering the look of pure hatred in the man's eyes.


	6. Getting Somewhere

**A/N: :) Thanks so much to everyone who reviewed! :) I promise, I'm not as hyper as I was yesterday... maybe... anyway, please review! :)**

**warning: violence... not in this chap. really, but im going repeat myself until this story is finished. now, let's get back to to the team...**

Ch. 6: Getting Somewhere

"Ok, we've got sixty cases to go through now," Hotch said, looking warily at the stack of folders on the table. "We need to narrow that down with the profile and give Garcia the names we get so she can run background on them."

"We've go about fifteen minutes before he calls back," Prentiss said, glancing at her watch for the thousandth time.

"Then let's get started," Rossi said. "We know he had to have watched Morgan and Reid to know their routines so he doesn't stand out too much,"

"He's careful," Hotch said. "There wasn't any physical evidence left at either of the crime scenes. Probably between the ages of 30-40."

"He most likely unemployed," Prentiss added, "To do that kind of surveillance and to pull all of this off, he'd have to have a lot of time on his hands."

"Okay, so we go back through these cases," Hotch said. "Eliminate anyone who's employed and not in the age range. Then give those names back to Garcia and tell her to start digging."

They each reached for a file and began flipping through them. They'd only gone through about three files when they pushed them away and looked at the clock on the wall. It was 11:59. Garcia showed up seconds later, her eyes, too, going immediately to the clock.

They practically held their breath, staring at the clock as the second hand ticked slowly along. Almost as soon as the minute hand moved over the twelve, the phone rang.

Hotch pressed the speaker button, "Agent Hotchner,"

"Are you ready to reconsider my offer?" the man asked. "Agent Morgan and Agent Reid seem to be in quite a bit of pain at the moment. Don't you want to end their suffering?"

Hotch chose to ignore the question. "Are you going to tell us why you're doing this?" he asked. "Or even what your name is?"

"My name is of no importance, Agent Hotchner. And I already told you, you'll find out why this is happening soon enough. Now tell me who you choose."

"I'm not going to choose one of my agents to die." Hotch said, his jaw tightening.

The man sighed, "You have no idea what you're putting these men through, Agent Hotchner. I'll call back in an hour. Maybe you'll change your mind then."

* * *

"So we don't know who this guy is," Morgan said, "Or why he's doing this."

"No," Reid agreed. "All we know is that he's angry at us because we took something from him and we don't know what."

They had been talking for the past hour about their abductor, trying to figure out exactly what was going on. Of course, they weren't really coming up with anything and only kept discussing it because they needed something to help distract them from the pain. "And until the team can figure out why this guy is doing this, he's going to keep coming back in here to torture us every hour," Reid continued.

His words were slightly slurred and his vision was blurry because of the blood loss and concussion, but he was determined not to pass out.

"They'll figure it out," Morgan said, once again trying to hide the fear in his voice with false confidence. He was glad that Reid wasn't able to clearly see the fear in his eyes because of the darkness in the room. "They always figure these bastards out." he continued.

As the words left his mouth the door behind him began to open.

* * *

Prentiss tossed the last of the folders into the discard pile and they all looked at the now much smaller pile of possible unsubs. "Okay, so we eliminated more than half of the original files," JJ said. "Now we just give these nineteen names to Garcia and see what that gets us?"

Hotch nodded, "We need to know who these men are," he said. "Something must've happened, besides whatever spurred his need for revenge, to make him decide that now is the time to strike. Something caused him to do this now."

"Maybe it was the anniversary of whatever caused him to want revenge in the first place," Rossi suggested.

Prentiss nodded, "Or maybe he's been planning this since it happened and saw something or someone that reminded him of what happened and so he chose to act now."

"We won't know that until later," Hotch said. "All of this is only speculation. Garcia can take these names, do thorough checks on all of them and see, of them, which ones have access to a car, and a place that's private."

"She already checked out all of these names before, when we had more files," JJ pointed out. "Why check again?"

"Because then we didn't have anything more than a sketchy profile. Now we have more to be looking out for and fewer names to go through. If our unsub is doing this out of revenge, he's somewhere on that list." Hotch explained.

Prentiss nodded, "And Garcia might be able to narrow it down even more."

JJ nodded, "Alright. I'll get this to Garcia." she said, hurrying out of the room.

They had all purposefully been avoiding discussing what the unsub could be doing to Morgan and Reid. None of them really wanted to think about it, but they couldn't help but do so when they knew the danger that their friends were in. Still, they had so far not voiced any of their opinions aloud, preferring to worry and grieve in private and put up a brave, focused front around the rest of the team so that they could bring their friends back safely.

At least they were getting somewhere, JJ thought. Nineteen names was a lot easier to deal with the 129 that they'd started with, or the sixty that they'd narrowed it down to after that.


	7. Narrowing Down the Suspects

**A/N: Okay, thanks for all the reviews :) I know last chapter was kind of boring, but this chapter is a little better... I hope. Anyway, please review! :)**

**another precautionary violence warning... **

Ch. 7: Narrowing Down The Suspects

"Your boss is a very stubborn man," he said as he entered the room, once again standing between the two FBI agents. "He simply refuses to choose one of you to die. I wonder, does that make you feel any better? Knowing that he cares enough about the two of you that he won't even consider picking one of you to die to end your suffering? Or does it make you feel worse, knowing that there is more pain coming?"

Reid just stared at the man, unable to even think of a response that wouldn't make him angry. Morgan, however, was already beyond the point of listening to the man taunt them. "It doesn't matter what you do to us, you son of a bitch." he snapped, "You're up against some of the best minds in the world. They will find you."

Fire flickered in his eyes for a moment, but he had enough control on his temper this time to hold back his anger. "Agent Morgan, if you really believed that, your voice wouldn't tremble the way it did." the man said, a small smile stretching across his face.

Morgan glared at him but didn't say anything else. As much as he hated to admit it, he was right. He was scared and he was worried that the team might not find them in time. But he couldn't just give up. Not when his and Reid's lives depended on it.

"Dr. Reid, you've been so quiet," the man said, turning his attention to Reid suddenly. "Your friend here has made his opinions pretty well known. But what about you? Are you more relieved that Agent Hotchner didn't choose one of you to die. Or are you scared?"

Reid looked at the man for a moment before responding. And when he did, his voice was far more calm than either Morgan or their abductor had expected it to be. "I would rather Hotch not choose one of us to die." he said. "None of us could live with the psychological torment that a choice like that would do to a mind. Pain is a small price to pay when the alternative is death."

The man frown and cocked his head to the side, studying the young FBI agent in front of him. "You didn't really answer my question though, did you, Doctor?" he asked. "Are you scared or not?"

Reid frowned at him, thinking. Finally, he decided to answer honestly. "I'm terrified." he said. "But it's not like I haven't been scared for my life before. This isn't so different from any of the other times."

The man frowned, not at all happy with the answer he'd been given. The agent had said he was scared, and maybe that was true, but he was doing far too good of a job hiding that fact for his liking. He wanted to hear screams and pleas and sobs of broken men. Not the slightly shaking voices of two men who were prepared to deal with the pain or die.

He turned his back to them, pulling the bloody knife and the hammer back out of his tool box before responding. "Well, I guess we'll have to see if I can change that then, won't I?" he asked.

* * *

JJ came back into the conference room with Garcia on her heels, laptop in her hands. "We've got four names," JJ said, hope sparkling in her blue eyes.

"Four?" Prentiss asked, sitting up straighter in her seat. "I expected more…"

"Well, only four of the nineteen people owned private property or had a relative who owned private property, had access to a car and lived within a sixty mile radius of the city." JJ explained.

Hotch nodded and looked over the list of names. "What can you tell us about them?"

"Well, three years ago Grady Johns' brother, Randall Johns, killed seven women and Morgan shot him when he pulled a gun on Reid while they were interrogating him. He lives in the city, and owned a small hardware store until three months ago when it went bankrupt." Garcia started, reading from her computer screen. "Thomas Goering killed two children six months ago, Reid and Morgan made the arrest and he was released on a technicality a month later. He swore he'd make Morgan and Reid pay for what they'd done to him. He's been unemployed since his release and lives with his sister right outside of the city."

Eyes scanning the screen, she continued slowly, "Rodger Grant was shot by Morgan two years ago when he and Reid tried to arrest him for killing his little sister and her best friend. His father was apparently not happy about how they handled the situation and filed several complaints, none of which were even remotely true. He retired early because of a work injury and lives fifty miles outside the city."

She took a breath and scrolled down the screen. "Kyle Beckham's mother was killed by Justin Frost while she was in the hospital recovering from a failed attempt on her life four years ago. Morgan and Reid were the ones assigned to guard her room. Frost knocked both of them out with a taser…" she cringed at the thought and continued, "He lost his job a few months ago, but his mother owned a small house here in the city and he's lived there ever since she died… huh," she frowned.

"What is it?" Rossi asked, looking at her confused.

"Oh, well, according to this, Kyle Beckham wasn't even in the state when his mother died. He was notified of his mother's death later by local officers after he returned from a work related trip."

"So he never even met Morgan and Reid?" Hotch asked, frowning.

"Not according to this," Garcia said.

"Then maybe he isn't our unsub," Rossi suggested, "I mean, this was personal and Beckham never met Reid or Morgan."

"Yeah, but his mother died and they were the ones who were supposed to be protecting her. In a way, that makes him even more likely to be the unsub." Hotch said.

"I don't think it's Grant's father," Prentiss said, "He was injured and retired. It's unlikely he'd go to all this trouble anyway. It seems like he's already done everything he could to avenge his son."

"It's probably not Thomas Goering either," Hotch said, looking over the file. "He's not a sadistic person; if he were going to take revenge, he'd just kill them. And six months isn't a very long time anyway."

"Ok, so that leaves us with Grady Johns and Kyle Beckham." JJ said, frowning down at the file in her hands. "Didn't you say that there was probably some kind of trigger that would've caused the unsub to take revenge now?" she asked.

"Yes." Hotch said. "Something made him decide that now is the time to act. We need to look back through these files and see if there's anything in them that might've been that trigger."

Garcia gasped suddenly, her eyes growing wide over her computer screen.

"Garcia, what is it?" Hotch asked. All eyes went to her immediately.

"I - I just got another email." she said shakily. "It's from the same person who sent the picture earlier…" she hit several keys on the computer, fighting back tears. "But I still can't track him."

"What's the email say?" Rossi asked, leaning forward in his chair.

"Uh, well, it doesn't _say _anything. It's an audio file."


	8. Pain Beyond All Comparison

**A/N: Thanks so much for all of your reviews! :) I'm always happy to hear what people think.**

**WARNING: Violence. pretty graphic in this chapter.**

**please review!**

Ch. 8: Pain Beyond All Comparison

He studied the two agents for a moment before he turned his back to them and pulled out a small electronic recording device from the tool box. He turned back to them and grinned. "I think maybe your boss needs something to persuade him…" he said, sitting the recorder onto the shelf and switching it on.

He picked the knife back up and looked between the two agents for a moment, as if trying to decide to who hurt first. Then, once again without any warning, he whirled and the knife was thrust into Morgan's shoulder almost all the way to the hilt.

He screamed, his eyes widening with shock and pain. He'd rather be shot than stabbed… The knife was yanked back out, releasing copious amounts of blood before it was once again rammed into his shoulder. Morgan tried not to scream again, bit his lip to hold back his grunt of pain, but it wasn't much use as the man stabbed him a third time.

"Stop!" Reid yelled at him suddenly, wanting to draw his attention away from Morgan. "You're going to kill him!" His eyes were wide with fear and his voice shook violently.

He looked up suddenly, his eyes focused on Reid. "Wouldn't want that, now would we, Dr. Reid?" he sneered bitterly. He picked up the hammer and grinned at him.

Taking a fistful of Reid's hair into his hand he yanked his head up roughly, causing Reid to cry out as pain shot through his head. He lifted the hammer in his free hand and Reid cringed back as he realized what he was going to do.

"Don't." Morgan said, his voice horse and weak with pain. He fought weakly against the ties on his wrists, wanting more than anything to help his friend, but it was no use. He was too weak and the bonds were too tight.

He was aware of Agent Morgan's struggles, relished the weakness and pain in his voice, but he wasn't really listening at the moment. He was only watching the fear in Reid's eyes grow as he brought the hammer down onto his jaw.

Reid thought his head was going to exploded with the pain. He hadn't heard himself scream, but his throat felt horse so he must've… he thought he felt something inside his jaw crack and then saw, with his eyes barely open, the hammer flying towards his face again. He cried out as it made contact with his jaw. He had definitely felt something crack that time.

He flinched as the man brought the hammer down to his side, expecting another blow. When it didn't come Reid almost sighed in relief but it was difficult to feel anything other than the pain. He left go of his hair and dropped the hammer back into the tool box next to the knife before picking up the recorder.

"Hear that, agents?" he asked. "I think Agent Morgan and Agent Reid are in a lot of pain at the moment. Are you sure you don't want to end their suffering? Just something to think about." He flipped the machine off and left the two men alone once again, a devious smile on his face.

Morgan, his breathing shallow, looked at his friend worried. "Reid are you alright?" he asked.

Reid nodded slowly, scared to speak since he was certain that his jaw was at the very least cracked if not broken completely. "Yeah," he said, wincing as pain shot through his jaw.

Morgan shook his head, "Why'd you do that, kid? He could've killed you!"

"He wants one of us dead anyway," Reid said, wincing at every word. "If he kept stabbing you, you would've died. You've already lost a lot of blood."

"I'm fine." Morgan lied. "And you've lost a lot of blood too."

"Yeah, well," he winced again, closing his eyes. "I couldn't just… sit here and watch him do that."

Morgan nodded, understanding. He felt the same way. But he still thought what Reid had done was stupid. Still, Reid had been right about one thing. He had lost a lot of blood. Too much blood, he realized. His vision was starting to go dark. But he couldn't pass out and leave Reid alone with that psycho. He forced himself to keep his eyes open, difficult as it was. The team would find them. They had to.

* * *

The recording started playing and everyone in the room grew increasing more worried.

The first thing they heard was shuffling and then Morgan screamed twice, his voice tight.

Then Reid had yelled, _"Stop! You're going to kill him!"_

There were more shuffling noises and the unsub replied, "_Wouldn't want that, now would we, Dr. Reid?"_

Then Reid had gasped in pain and they heard Morgan's weak voice saying _"Don't."_

There was the sound of something hitting something else hard and Reid screamed in agony. They all winced as the sound repeated itself, Reid once again screaming.

Then they heard the unsub's voice. _"Hear that, agents? I think Agent Morgan and Agent Reid are in quite a bit of pain at the moment. Are you sure you don't want to end their suffering? Just something to think about."_

The recording ended. Garcia had tears leaking out of her eyes, shaking her head. JJ looked like she was about to break down, all of the grief she'd been trying to force back for past couple of hours suddenly surfacing. Prentiss's eyes were wide, her hands shaking slightly over the file she had been holding. Rossi looked like he was in shock, not sure what to think or say. Hotch looked pissed and worried. This guy was playing with them… then it hit him.

"This isn't just about Morgan and Reid." he said suddenly.

Everyone turned to look at him, confused. "What?" Rossi asked, a frown on his face.

"This guy is playing with us. All of us. He's most angry at Morgan and Reid, but it's the entire team his trying to hurt. Think about it, the email was addressed to all of us, he wants us to choose one of them to die. Now he sends us this message, just to taunt us. This about hurting us as much as it is about hurting Reid and Morgan." Hotch explained.

"So we went through all those files for nothing?" Garcia asked, her voice cracking. She couldn't believe they'd spent the past two hours wasted while her babies were out there getting hurt by some psycho…

"No." Hotch said, shaking his head. "This unsub is still more focused on Morgan and Reid so it was them he's really angry at, but he blames the entire team since we all worked the case…"

Garcia nodded, closing the email on her screen. Then she frowned and leaned forward. "Hotch… you said that something would've happened recently that might cause this guy to want revenge now, right?" she asked.

"Yeah. An anniversary of the event or … why?" he frowned.

"Because Kyle Beckham's mother died exactly four years ago today." she said.

The team looked at each other, eyes hopeful. "That could be it," Rossi said. "What's the address?"

"189 East Thompson Drive." she said quickly, her eyes still teary.

Hotch stood up, "Let's go."


	9. The Devil's Workshop

**A/N: Thanks sooo much, once again for all the amazing reviews :) I am super sorry that this chapter is so short. I don't really pay attention to how long a chapter is when I write it, and I didn't realize it was so short... Oh well. The team's on their way to rescue them now! Let's hope they get there before Mr. Psycho comes completely unhinged...**

**please review! :)**

Ch. 9: The Devil's Workshop

Reid had noticed Morgan's eyes were begging to glaze over. "Morgan," he said, wincing at the pain. "Don't pass out."

Morgan lifted his head slowly and with great effort. He was trying not to pass out, but he was begging to get dizzy from the blood loss and everything was so blurry. He knew Reid must be feeling the same way, but Reid hadn't lost as much blood as he had. His head dropped back down to his chest again.

"Morgan." Reid called out to him again, the fractured bones in his jaw scraping against one another painfully.

Morgan's head jerked back up suddenly, "I'm not gonna pass out kid." he promised, his voice weak. "I'm just… tired."

"Try to stay awake," Reid said, fighting the urge to pass out himself. His vision had been black around the edges for almost an hour, but the pain was keeping him awake for the moment. He wasn't sure how long it would be before the pain was the reason that he lost consciousness, but he was determined that it not happen any time soon.

* * *

Kyle Beckham sat upstairs in his house, staring at an old photograph in an album. His mother's smiling face stared back at him. He felt tears leak out of his eyes and drop onto the picture. Those damned FBI agents were supposed to have protected her and they didn't. If they had done their jobs…

He looked up, frowning, hearing sirens in the distance. Could it be…? No. They couldn't possibly have found him. Not yet at least. How could they have?

The sirens grew closer though. He tensed… maybe that had found him. He stood up as the scream of the sirens became deafening and hurried down to the basement. There was no way he was going down without a fight.

* * *

Hotch banged on the locked door. When he got no answer for the second time he motioned for SWAT members to break the door down and they rushed inside. There was no sign of anyone in the house, but Beckham's van was parked out front so they knew he was home.

They descended the stairs to the basement slowly. The door was open at the end of a narrow hall, a dim light glowing in the room.

Inside the team found a small workshop that had been converted into a torturing room where Morgan and Reid were tied to two chairs bolted to the ground.

Hotch tried not to think about the condition his agents were in; Morgan unconscious with his back to them and Reid, bloody and bruised facing him with wide, terrified eyes.

Right then, all that mattered to Hotch and the rest of the team was Kyle Beckham, holding a knife to Reid's throat.


	10. Vengeance

**A/N: Thanks for the reviews :) :) Sorry I didn't update yesterday... I was w/my family and had NO cell service or internet. Anyway, here's chapter 10!**

**WARNING: ... I don't think there's really that much violence left... but still... violence. **

**please review! **

Ch. 10: Vengeance…

The knife was sharp against his throat and Reid watched, helpless and panicked, as Hotch, Prentiss, Rossi and JJ rushed into the room with their guns drawn. Morgan had been unconscious for about five minutes…

The fear on his team members' faces hurt almost as much as his broken jaw. The knife was pressed tighter against his neck. "Don't come any closer," Kyle said, his eyes angry. "I'll kill him."

"Kyle," Hotch said slowly, "Put the knife down. You don't have to do this."

"No!" Kyle yelled. "Agent Morgan and Agent Reid are responsible for my mother's death! One of them has to die! She has to be avenged!"

Hotch nodded slowly, fighting to keep himself calm. It was hard for him to want to reason with this man after seeing what he had done to Morgan and Reid. "She was avenged, Kyle. Justin Frost killed her, and he's in prison. Morgan and Reid were trying to protect your mother. They never hurt her."

"But they didn't do their job!" Kyle said. "They were supposed to protect her and they didn't!"

Hotch shook his head, "No. They were attacked too, Kyle. Justin Frost attacked them when he killed your mom. They didn't want anything to happen to her either."

Kyle blinked, his grip on the knife loosening slightly. "But they should've stopped him." he said, "They were supposed to stop him. It was their job!" His grip on the knife suddenly tightened again as he pressed it closer to Reid's throat, drawing blood. "They got her killed! They took her from me!"

Hotch watched the man start to drag the knife across Reid's throat and his finger pulled the trigger without thought. There was no way he was going to let Reid die. Not when he could prevent it.

Reid winced as the knife began to dig deeper into his neck. Then he jumped as gunfire exploded in the room. Kyle's grip on the knife was lost as his eyes went blank and he fell to the floor, the knife clattering at Reid's feet.

He heard Rossi and Prentiss rushing toward him, untying his hands and JJ hugged him while they did the same for Morgan.

Everything happened so fast… Paramedics rushed down the stairs and loaded them onto gurneys, rushing them off to the hospital.

He tried to keep his eyes open, to talk to them whenever they asked him a question or said his name, but before they reached the hospital, his vision went totally black and he slipped into unconsciousness, glad that it was finally over.


	11. Welcome Back

**A/N: A ginormous THANK-YOU to everyone who reviewed this, added it to favorites and/or story alter :) I luvz you all! :)**

**And now, I present to you... the final chapter... or epilogue if you wanna call it that...**

**WARNING: not really any violence... just crankiness, threats, teasing and arguing XD I love the BAU...**

**PLEASE REVIEW! :)**

Ch. 11: Welcome Back

Morgan hobbled into the BAU a few weeks later on crutches, a sour look on his face. Prentiss looked up when he sat down and grinned, "Hey! You're back!" she smiled.

Morgan just grunted and pulled a file off of the stack on his desk without responding.

Prentiss frowned, "What's wrong with you?" she asked, "I thought you'd be happy to be back at work."

"I am." he said, laying the folder aside and looking up at her. "It's these damn crutches I've got a problem with. Apparently, the doctor says I can't go out in the field for at least another two weeks. And I don't know how Reid managed all that time on them. They make everything an inconvenience." He explained angrily, kicking the crutches with his good leg.

"Morgan your knee was almost shattered." Prentiss said, "Be happy you'll still be able to use it after this."

"And the genius returns," JJ said walking over to Prentiss and Morgan, grinning as Reid hurried over to his desk and threw his messenger bag down. "Late on your first day back, Spence?" she teased.

He still had a yellowish bruise on his jaw from where the hammer had hit him, but other than that he looked fine. "My alarm clock was broken." he muttered. "And my coffee machine had a … malfunction this morning, too."

He glanced over at Morgan and noticed the crutches leaned up against the desk, "Nice crutches," he said.

Morgan glared at him, "Don't start, Reid." he warned. "I will hit you."

"I didn't say anything," Reid said, picking up a file off his own desk and flipping through it.

The girls laughed and shook their heads. "Welcome back, boys." JJ said. "It's been really boring without you two around here."


End file.
